Tornado's Birthday party

Someone should have warned me what it was like to have a birthday party with 8 4-year olds.

Tornado being a tree. Why? Who knows?

Decorating Goodie bags

Playing "Put the hammer in Bob's hand"

Playing "Bob Says..."

It's amazing what he picks up

Today Tornado kept saying "I'm sorry I'm late. I didn't sleep a wink last night!" We were confused for most of the day until we questioned him further.

Me: "Tornado, what are you talking about? Where did you hear that?"
T: "Farmer Pickles says it" Silently I could hear the implied "Duh, mom!"
Me: "Were you watching Bob the Builder this morning?"
T: "Uh huh." And off he went telling me all about Bob and Farmer Pickles and singing the theme song.

Last month it was still all things Thomas. Now Bob the Builder is his new love.

He is so fun and sweet.

Baby Bubbles is 1 year old!

At her 1 year appointment she was 1 oz shy of 19 lbs, and she's 30.5 inches long. She is a very intense little girl and she's always moving and eating. She can say Mama, Audrey, and hi.

Christmas

I realize these are way late, but better late than never right?

Garlic Lime Chicken

Since I have nothing to report except I hate snow, here's a favorite recipe of ours. Takes less than 30 minutes to make.

Garlic Lime Chicken

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
8 tablespoons lime juice
cornstarch

In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture lightly on both sides of chicken breasts. (there is enough here to last you for the next 4 times you make this recipe. DON'T use all of it, it will be too spicy to eat)

In a skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Turn down the heat, remove the chicken (keeping warm) and add the lime juice and chicken broth and cornstarch to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly and thickened a bit. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve.

Missing in Action

but I have a really good reason! I've been knitting and knitting to make these. I had to get them done in time to be shipped for Christmas.

Misc Baby Bubbles

This post is in honor of her! I took her to her 9 month appointment and she is 16.7 lbs (10%) and 27.8 inches long (80%.) She is such a fun girl and quite attached. She loves her mama!


Trying to get her picture. And yes, she's wearing Tornado's old jammies.

At our Sunday dinner and Papa's and Grandma's.

I knew it!

I was looking lovely today, just lovely. We (DA and I) were painting the bathroom so I hadn't showered. I was wearing no make-up either and had grubbies on. As I walked through the parking lot I thought to myself, "since I'm looking so awful I bet I run into someone today." Well, aren't I just the smart one! I ran into a friend that I hadn't seen in 8 years. She of course looked perfect and cute. Me, not so much.

Why does that always happen?

Halloween was a nightmare!

These are the only pictures that were taken. Bubbles was happy, but I had to force Tornado to wear his costume. I carved the pumpkins all by myself since no one wanted to help. No one was really happy and Mama was really grumpy. Halloween is hearby cancelled for next year.

Tornado once trick or treating was done.

Bubbles discovered her tongue that night.

Husband Tag

1.What is your husband's full name? DA (sorry, even though I'm private DA still doesn't want me to use names)
2.How long have you been married? 8 years
3.How long did you date? Dated for 5 months and were engaged for 3 months.
4.How old is he? He's 38
5.Who eats sweets? Both of us
6.Who said I Love you first? DA did.
7.Who is taller? DA
8.Who can sing best? Him
9.Who is smarter? Depends on the subject
10.Who does laundry? DA
11.Who pays the bills? Me
12.Who sleeps on the right side? Me
13.Who mows the lawn? He does
14.Who cooks dinner? Me
15.Who drives? He drives if we are together. He can't stand the way I drive
16.Who's first to admit when they are wrong? It's pretty equal
17.Who kissed who first? He kissed me.
18.Who asked who out first? He did
19.Who wears the pants? He does

I jinx'd myself!

I posted about how I seemed to have a lot to say and then all my words dried up!

To stop the silence I'm posting a favorite recipe of ours. We love it! I'd have it once a week if I wouldn't have to listen to Tornado whine about it.

Bulgoki (Korean BBQ)

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
4-6 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 Tablespoons sugar
3-4 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 teaspoon salt
4-6 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 pound flank steak in very thin slices (easiest to slice when still partially frozen)

In dry skillet, parch sesame seeds until slightly brown. In a gallon ziplock baggie combine rest of ingredients EXCEPT meat. Once mixed, add to meat, and mix well. Marinate all day (or at least 4 hours). Cook in frying pan with a bit of hot oil.

Make a dipping sauce with 1/3 part soy sauce to 2/3 part water, a bit crushed red pepper, and a bit of sesame oil - heat to simmer. Serve meat with sides of Butter lettuce, sauce, and rice. To eat authentically, use lettuce leaf as a wrap, put meat, rice, and sauce inside, and wrap lettuce around it.

To add a bit of heat add a dash of red chili pepper sauce to the marinade and dipping sauce.

I must have a lot to say lately

because I don't think I've ever blogged this much. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Tornado has been such a big boy lately. A few days ago I went out and pulled up all the the petunias, pansies, and marigolds. They didn't like the snow very much and were looking pretty bad. Without me saying a word Tornado went put on his work gloves, got his wagon, put all the flowers and weeds in it and then put them all in the trash. He did the same today for all the weeds I pulled. It's amazing what grows under the monster sized tomato plants! When it comes to working outside he really is a big help.

Tonight I was walking down the stairs and heard DA saying "okay, okay. I'm sorry!" DA was laughing at the TV and Tornado came out and got mad at him. He told him very sternly "Stop talking! Tornado trying to sleep!" He's still talking in the 3rd person. We keep telling him to say I and me and he gets so mad at us.

T: Tornado did it!
US: No, say I. I did it!
T: No! Not you! Tornado did it!

Our conversations about this are endless!

On the girl side of things... Bubbles fell down the stairs tonight. :( Poor Baby. Maybe now she'll stop trying to crawl up the stairs!

Tagged Eight things...

I was tagged by Kris.

Eight favorite TV shows
1. So you think you can dance.
2. House
3. Bones
4. Lipstick Jungle
5. Rosemary and Thyme
6. Any cooking show
7. This Old House
8. ???

Eight favorite restaurants:
1. Panda Express
2. Asian Star
3. P.F. Changs
4. Won Won Wok
5. Johnny Carino's
6. Los Hermanos
7. Taco Time
8. Cancun Cafe

Eight things I did yesterday
1. Pulled dead and dying flowers out of the flower beds.
2. Changed Bubbles' stinky bum 3 times.
3. Went to Walmart
4. looked for a babysitter
5. Played Curious George on the computer with Tornado.
6. Organized the toy closet.
7. Made omlets for dinner.
8. Went to a church meeting.

Eight things I love about the Fall
1. Leaves changing colors
2. Crisp mornings and warm days
3. Halloween Candy
4. Not sure I really love anything else...

Eight things I look forward to
1. Cuddling in bed
2. Saturday mornings when DA makes breakfast.
3. Possibly adding another little one.
4. Bubbles talking.
5. The kids growing up happy and healthy.
6. DA being happy in his job.
7. The kids being older and doing more outings with them.
8. Family

Eight things on my wish list
1. Date nights one a week
2. Bigger house
3. table for my entry way
4. a freezer for the garage
5. a new quilt for my bed
6. for a complete 1 yr. food storage
7. A cold storage room
8. Girls night outs

Eight people I tag (Sorry, I'm only doing 4)
1. Paula
2. Christy
3. Chelsea
4. Natalie

A lot to think about tonight

Tonight I went to a church leadership meeting with our Bishopric. The topics discussed were covenants and Christ. Most of the discussion on covenants centered around "Do we know what covenants we have entered in to? for baptism? for marriage? for our endowment?' "Can we list them?" "Can our ward members list them? Do they know what they are?" It took the 12 of us in that room to be able to list the 5 covenants we enter into in the temple. It was a humbling thought to realize I could only name a few. I have entered into these bargins with the Lord and in some cases I have no idea what my part is. Which brings me to the second part of the evening.

In talking about Christ we talked about Matthew chapter 25 and in it the parable of the 10 virgins. 5 were wise and 5 were foolish. Do you know the general membership of the ward follows that? In our ward out of 293 members 170ish show up to sacrament meeting. In the general membership only 42% are active. Anyway... in verse 10 the 5 foolish go to buy oil and during that time the bridegroom (Christ) comes, goes into the house and shuts the door. Not only is it shut but according to the footnotes it's locked. In verse 11, knowing they still didn't have the oil they knock on the door crying " Lord, Lord, open to us." Verse 12 He answers "I know you not." According to the JS translation the correct translation is "YOU know ME not." That hit me hard tonight. I could fall into that second group. I don't read my scriptures, I pray while laying in bed, we don't have FHE, etc. Well no more. I have no valid excuse except for laziness. No more.

My Savior knows me, my husband, and my children. And we are going to know Him. We are not going to fall in that second half. For when that great and dreadful day comes there is going to be no question of where we stand. My goal is to talk more, and share more. I want Tornado and Bubbles to see me reading my scriptures and ask me what I am doing. I'm going to share more of what I am learning so they can know of my thoughts and feelings about the gospel. I want them to know why I am going to the temple, what feelings and knowledge I am seeking, and what experiances I have there. (with-in what I can share, which I found out tonight is a lot more than I thought) I want gospel discussions to happen everyday and not just on Sunday. I want them to share with me about what they are learning and if I don't start first, they never will.

I want Him to know me, but most of all I want my children to know Him.

I'm going private

I've had over 109 hits from all over the world in the few hours since I last posted. If you want an invite so you can keep reading, send me an email. Send it to mominthewest@hotmail.com.

My family

This was taken at my little sisters wedding.

Tornado being a goof this morning.
Bubbles thinks this is how you drink a bottle when mom can't hold you.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Chocolate Chip Cookies

This make about 5 dozen. I usually bake half of it and then freeze the other half.

2 cups shortening
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp salt
2 tsp soda
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 12 oz bag chocolate chips

Cream together first 4 ingredients. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375.

Chicken Pot Pie with a Biscuit Twist

I got this recipe from a Nora Roberts book and twisted it to fit my time constraints. DA said I may as well throw out my old recipe because he was never going to let me use it again. I think that means he likes this new version!

1 fryer chicken
2 cans cream of celery soup
Flour
1 cup potatoes
1 cup carrots
1-2 handful frozen peas
1 can lima beans
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 ½ T basil
¾ t oregano
1 ½ t rosemary
Thyme
Pepper
Salt

Boil a whole fryer in a big dutch oven, covered with water until done through. When the skin peels easily and the legs and thighs separate at the joint it’s done. (about 1 to 1 ½ hours)

Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 400.

Skim the grease out of the broth and add cream of celery soup before thickening it a bit with flour. Scoop some broth out – the empty soup cans are handy- and stir some flour in that so it doesn’t lump. Add the garlic and onion poder, basil, oregano and rosemary. Add a sprinkle of thyme, and a dose of pepper and salt. This will thicken as it cooks. Simmer on low. Peel and chop potatoes and carrots. Add them to the broth. Add peas and lima beans.

When the chicken’s cool enough, remove the skin, pick off chunks of the meat and add the meat to the broth until the chicken’s picked clean. Simmer until veggies are done.

While the veggies are cooking, make biscuits.

Baking Powder Biscuits (makes about 9-10 biscuits)

2 c flour
3 t baking powder
1 t salt
¼ c shortening
¾ c milk

Combine dry ingredients and cut in shortening. Mix in milk and roll out on counter. Cut out biscuits. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.

Top cooked biscuits with the soup mixture. Enjoy!

Yay for being happy

Baby Bubbles started clapping her hands today. She'll pick up a toy, shake it a few times, and then set it down and clap her hands. She thinks she's so smart.

I love this stage! It's so fun to see her figure things out.

Tonight Tornado fell asleep on the way to get dinner (the original dinner bombed and was fed to the disposal) so when he had to wake up all he did was cry and ask to go to bed. While he was crying I looked over at Bubbles and she was looking at Tonado with the look on her face clearly saying "Dude.... you've got problems."

She's getting so big, - at least in attitude. She's 8 months old now.

Isn't it beautiful?

We got it Saturday and used it for the first time on Sunday. It's awesome! We tested it out by washing NOTHING off the dishes. In they went all crusty and gross and out they came all clean and sparkly.

Oh noooo....

DA wants to try and fix the old dishwasher instead of buying a new one. *groan*

I've been washing dishes by hand since Sunday and I'm not loving it.

You know you're a grown up when....

you are excited over the possibilty of a new dishwasher. *Sigh* When did I get so old and boring?? I guess since I spend so much quality time with the blasted thing it should be something I love.

My day at the grocery store….

I got all excited to go to the grocery store so I could try out all the coupons I’ve been collecting. Everything went great in the beginning. All in all, between the store sales and coupons I spent $123.12 and saved $76.30.

I was all flustered and excited about saving that much and I went smiling out the grocery store until I encountered the pouring rain. Tornado, Bubbles and I ran through the parking lot and started to hurry and put the groceries in the car. Then I discovered a case of corn that I knew I didn’t pay for. I was too busy talking about coupons to pay attention. So I pulled the kids out of their car seats and we ran back through the pouring rain to pay for the corn. While inside I decided I needed some chicken. I get the chicken, use the self checkout system, pay for the stuff and go back through the pouring rain to the car. I get Tornado in the car again put the corn in the back and discover I left the chicken in the store.

*Sigh*

Bubbles was still in the cart so I locked Tornado in the car (bad I know, but it was raining and I didn’t want to drag him out again) and Bubbles and I race through the parking lot in the rain that’s falling even harder right now, grab the chicken and roll my eyes at the cashier who’s totally laughing at me cuz she knows this is my 3rd trip into the store, run back through the rain, unlock the car, put bubbles in and climb in myself. I heave a sigh and climb in back to make sure Tornado and Bubbles are secure. I climb back into my seat and…..

I.can’t.find.my.keys.

I know that I just had them because I just unlocked the car and got in. So I start looking. I check the back where the groceries are, Tornado’s car seat, Bubbles car seat, under the seats, and in the diaper bag three times. I get out of the car twice to check under the car and under seats again. Did I mention it was still raining? Bubbles is crying and there is a odor coming from her. I check the bag of chicken because my baby girl cannot possibly smell that bad. Nope. Not the chicken. It’s her.

Lovely.

I check my pockets for the umpteenth time and then check all over the car again. My spare key is at home, and no one in my neighborhood has a house key so there isn’t anyone I can call. Finally I sit down and start thinking of uttering a prayer to find them. I look over and there they are. Only one tiny little key was sticking out. I had set them down in the cup holder and then had pushed it in when I crawled in the back to check the car seats.

Yay. We could go home now.

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

This was sooo good! DA took one bite and declared it a keeper. It was super fast and easy too.

I got this recipe off http://www.kraftfoods.com/.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts.

4 T. Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Dressing, divided

1 medium tomato, finely chopped

1 tsp dried basil, or you can use fresh (1/4 cup)

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Marinade the chicken with 2T. dressing for 10 minutes. (I dumped in way more dressing than that and marinated it all day) Cover 1/2 of grill with heavy duty foil. Heat grill and place chicken on the uncovered side of the grill. Throw away the marinade. Cook for 6 minutes. In the mean time, mix the tomatoes, remaining dressing, basil, and cheese. Turn chicken over and place on foil. Top with tomato mixture and grill for 8 minutes, until chicken is done and cheese is melted.

Another variation here I have seen is to use Italian Dressing instead of the sun dried tomato. Next time DA wants some angel hair pasta with it. Sounds good to me!